Anger vented, and now back to nirvana...

Ok, so before you say "thats poker", or "ah sure its only a game" or even "it was a fiver rebuy Trisha", i know. And not only do i know but most of the time its me giving the bad beats. But, just every so ofter i come across a player who i just wanna strangle. And 9 out of 10 times its in The Crackpot. So i shall vent some anger here and prevent myself from getting a boil on the neck ala Homer Simpson.

Monday madness is exactly what it says on the tin. Bit of craic with the lads/lasses and cheap enough to boot. So i pop in to last night and take a seat along side some regulars. Craic is in full swing with the "ahhhhhs" and "ooooooohs" and usual shouting and screaming for magic river cards that ALWAYS appear because its Monday. So i settle in and break time comes and i find i havent re-bought once, but do top up so im sitting on a resepectable 10k. First hand back after the break and there's a chap from the north of Eire whose name i can never remember but is an absolute gent, and theres Mark Kennedy(names shall not be with held for i wanna name and shame). Now for those of you who know Mark, probably are aware he's not the full shilling at the best of times, not because he thinks he's the best damn player in Ireland, or because he works for Paddy Power(most likely making tea or vaccuming floors i reckon) but because he's just, well, nuts(did warn you i was venting anger!). So nice chap from the north has pocket kings, and Mark has kh qh, which is a better hand than he normally shows, but straight back from the break, no more re-buys, and he throws his stack in with this shite, and of course the flop brings two hearts, and Mark does his usual jumping in my seat like i have worms dance and starts banging on the table for a heart, which pops up on the turn. Nice chap from the north says nice hand and leaves table, Mark says yee haa ya boya blah blah blah and continues to do his little dance. Fast forward 3 levels later and two short stacks on the table decide to push, and Mark calls, with A 4 off, one guy has 99, other has AQ, flop brings 2 5 3, giving Mark a straight, and no four means the two lads are off home. Mark still being his weird self does another stupid dance and is whooping and hollering. By this time the rest of the table are giving each other the "im gonna get this fucker" eyes. Myself included. But we get eleven handed and i find im the short stack now, and find the chips going in with 99. Dara(loud guy but good laugh) takes pity on me and calls with 9 6 off, and ive doubled up. Ten minutes later i find 99 again but no callers. So im sitting on 5800, blinds are 400 and 800, when i look down to see pocket queens in the BB, Mark has called, action back around to small blind who completes, and i push. Mark does his usual "im thinking like i have a hand and as im a cock ill end up calling you anyway regardless of what i have" stint, and calls for 5k more, and the SB folds. I turn over my ladies, and Mark turns over Ad 4h. Happy days. Flop brings me 2 5 6. He does his usual "one time for the mongo" dance and starts hollering for a 3. Turn indeed brings a 3 and Mark erupts again with his happy mongo dance. River is a 10 and im out. Now, i know when we play poker to expect this kind of beat. I know im not supposed to show anger and be upset as its only a game. And whilst im well aware of etiquette and, as far as im aware, am pretty well mannered when im on a table, i can safely say, i did not give a shit last night. I let such a roar the i shook the table. I let him know what i really thought of his "play", and of him. And after cooling off outside, talking (bitching some would call it) to other players who happened to have the same opinion as myself, i still dont feel bad. I got half an apology when he turned red faced after i let him know what i thought, but, in retrospect, he should not have apologised for his play, he probably thinks that one third of his stack with a raggy ace was a great call, and cemented more so by the fact it won. But hey thats poker, and while im sure i made some crap play when i was just starting out (Q4, dont ask), I ask you, is there such a thing as the Karma fairy dealing out shitty cards and bad beats to those who have dogged in a past life? While im a believer in Karma in general, does it/should it come back to bite us in the bum, presenting itself in a manner such as last nights episode? Answers on a postcard please.

Paddy Power Winter Festival

Ummm, this weekend is a bit of a blur...i remember getting there on the thursday night after picking Franny up at the airport, i remember going into Blinkers, and playing for twenty mins before they shut up shop, and after getting to the bar to meet the Cork crowd on Friday, the rest of the weekend is lost. I do remeber an early morning stint of cash games, and if i can recall, me having QQ and being re-raised by A2 who promptly hits an ace on the flop, i can recall not wanting to play poker for the rest of the weekend. I dont normally drink, but peer pressure is a horrible thing, so after Big Al's exploits on the Sunday, i apologise profusely if ive said or done anything to offend anyone. Home at 6 am tuesday morning, gave Tristan (jackpot dealer) a lift, and to bed for the day. Jackpot dealers tounrey was a bit of a disaster, as most of them stayed in the pub. They had a 20 euro, tenner re-buy round of each. Roughly 2500€, and we get down to 12 before all but one wanna chop it and go back to the bar. Sarah announces they're only paying 5, crap, so i go all in on a flop of Jd 9d 5c, Gary(bald one), re-raises all in, and whatshisname from Cork calls. gary turns over top set, whathisname turns over the nut flush draw, and im pretty thin with an open ended straight draw. Gary takes the lot and im off home in 10th. Gary and Simon end up choppping it for €750 each.

Im hopefully going to reg for the Bruce Poker launch night this week, and that'll probably be the lot until January as christmas is sneaking up fast and i need to get my skates on. I'd love to cash at any of the events that weekend as i havent been playing the best lately and a bit of an ego boost is in order. But failing that, im lucky when it come to raffles so Vegas here i come lol.

Omaha Side Event IPO

Sick game. Sick players.

I was sooo excited about playing this and when they put a 1k bounty on Marty Smyths head it just added to the excitement. I get a late seat after the Omaha filled up pretty sharpish, mainly as they didnt have enough chips for everyone, so when they announced the next two players to the cash desk gets seats in the Omaha, i snatched my chips from the 1 2 cash game and flung them at the poor girl saying "im here".

Sit down and the blinds are already 75 150, its a double chance game with 4k starting stack and 5k for your re-buy/top-up. Pretty nice for a €150 buy in. Theres already bigg-ish stacks on the table so i get to work. Five hands later ive doubled up, and its break time. I come back after the break and have 13k. Im playing pretty tight as its my first big Omaha tournament, and theres a couple of faces on the table i recognise that play the big game in the Fitz. But its not long before i have 6h 7d 9d 10c. I flat call it and it comes back around to the BB, who raises it to 500. I call it mostly out of boredom, and flop comes 8s 2d 6s. he pots it, i re-pot it and he goes all in for roughly half my stack. I know he's on a flush draw and stupidly call. He turns over 4c 5s 6c 7s, has straight flush draw. Now. This is where it gets messy. Dealer accidentaly burns dirt twice. I didnt see this happen as i was looking at the board and the chaps hand trying to work out what had to dodge. Out pops a red Q. Now another player did see it, and he straight away says hold up, you made a mistake, this is what should happen, and he takes the queen, picks up the two burned cards mixes them up and turns one of them over, which was a 4, then says to the dealer "deal on!". Eh, hang on a minute, what the f***? I obviously called Mick Locke, who was the director that day, and asked him to make a ruling, at the same time telling the player to shut up its up to him, whatever he says goes. Mick put the q, plus both burn cards back into the deck, shuffled it up and asked the dealer to deal from there. fair enough. Turn is a 2, river is a 4, giving him the straight and there goes half my stack.

Next hand right after this one and im fuming. Not at the dealer or ruling. But at the player who had nothing to do with the pot and didnt have the right to touch any of the cards that were out. So i barely looked at my hand and the french player beside me raises, i re-raise all in and another player goes all in. french player insta-calls and i turn over kh jh jc 7c. French player turns over q 9 9 8, other chap turns over a a k 10. All i remeber is the suit i had, and flop comes 4h 6h kd, im the only one with the heart draw, and so im hoping i hit, but turn is a blank, and so is the river. Aces hold up and im off home to bed, still pissed off. Apart from the heat in the room, the tournament was nicely run and next year ill get off my butt in time to get a ME ticket.

Ladies Side Event IPO

Went to the IPO not really wanting to play this but as it was on a full 3 hours before the Omaha i said feck it. Paid the €90, sat down amongst mostly Irish, and two French ladies. Never really got going. I find that women rarely believe you have them beat, so on the three rare occasions i actually had some nice hands my chips never jumped above the starting stack of 4k. One half interesting hand i played was this one: 10h10c, stack 1200, blinds 75/150. Raised from player in EP to 650, comes around to me, all in, folds back to the lady and she calls with Queens..Shit..Flop 7 7 5, turn K, river 10. PML! She wasnt best impressed but ah well.Snigger. Ended up short stacked again after getting hands like A10 and 77. So pushed with A 5 off and was called by A J so off to the rail i go.

Ladbrokes Irish Festival Killarney

So im slightly pissed off as i didn't get off me arse and get a ticket for the main event and resigned myself to not going, but after a lot of texts and calls asking me why i wasnt there, and letting me know the cash games were nice and soft, i decided to jump in the car on Saturday and head down solo.

Got to Killarney for 7pm, and bumped straight into Steven Chambers, he was chip leader of the €300 side event, having busted out of the main event on the 1st day, and long story short, he busted out of the side event having been chip leader on day two after just one hour of play. Unlucky mate. Went into the bar and met with the lads from Cork. Peter Higgins had been up all night playing cash and had done very weel, so wasnt bothered about playing again, and Noel Magner was still in the side event, granted though he was going into the bar, having 3 pints, going back to the table and going all in blind, each time knocking some unlucky player out with hands like 7 3 off. Ouch.

So after catching up i headed to the the tournament floor to have a nosey and see who was there. Denis Reyes was playing the side and doing well, Vera Duffy, Smurph, and loads from Dublin were down. Went into the cash game floor and headed straight for a table even though i was wrecked from the drive. Bought in for €150 and sat down. Not much to say about the cash excepthad jacks, queens and kings all in that order and all were no good. Won a few heads up pots with hands like AK and JK, but ended up losing a big pot with AQ on a AQ7 rainbow flop, when the other player hit running spades. So i decided to push all in with my last 25 quid on the blind, after 2 hours of playing, and every player on the table called, flop was 10 9 7, and everyone checked to the button, who made it €100 to go, all folds around to one chap who calls, and the turn is an K, button makes it €150, and the other chap goes all in for roughly €300, button snap calls an trns over JQ for nut straight, other chap laughs an turns over JQ as well, river is a ten and i turn over 10 3...sick. So off to the town for some grub and more drink and then back to bed for 4am.

Woke pretty early and headed for breakfast alone as the lads were hung over, met up with Tadgh, Steven and Mick Stevens in the bar, and then headed into the town for a quick spin with Joan Vickers. Back to the INEC and registered for the €170 side event. Back to the bar and met up with the lads from Cork. Started making my way towards the tables where i bumped into Steven Chambers walking around in a daze after being knocked out. Heres a hug Ste, gotta go...

So im sitting on a table in seat 10, and the game starts pretty well for me. Had A 10 on the button and the flop brings 10 10 7, i bet the pot and get one caller. Turn is an 8, i bet the pot again and he calls. River is an 8 and i bet the pot again and he min-raises it. I re-raise to half my stack and he pushes. I think about it for a minute and go back over it in my head (ie. what would Keith tell me to do...) and i fold with the ten face up. He starts laughing and shows me pocket 8's. In hindsight, i would've prefered donating the rest of my chips to this chap compared to the donkey that knocked me out. And here's why.

Button in making pretty standard raises each time, and it comes around to him again, blinds are 75/150, he makes it 625, SB pushes for 4,000ish, and im on the BB and wake up to AhAc. Happy days. I copunt to ten(dont ask!) and push for 7kish. Folded back to button who thinks about it, humming and ha-ing, before saying oh there's too much value now, i call. I turn aces up, SB turns up 84off, and button laughs and turns up 86off! Flop comes 8 6 4. WTF!!! Turn is a 2, river is a J. Bye Trisha and SB. Nice hand Sir, off to the bar feeling pretty pissed off but laugh about it to Shay and Padraig. Ah well. Ended up heading home early as had been given some bad news about a family member, so didnt get to play any more cash as i would've liked. But roll on the IPO!

So here i am...

Ok, Ok so im years behind everyone else when it comes to blogging but after reading Mellors, Garys, Keiths, Smurphs, Gordons and other blogs the last while i said shag it, might as well do one, who knows, might even interest someone. But probably not.

Poker

So ive been playing poker since Christmas '06, played a few freerolls on Paddy and then ventured into a pub game in Booterstown run by Paul and Brian from the Jackpot. Was shitting it if im honest being the only women there was a shock as i just presumed there were loads of women playing, but paid in an sat down with the big lads, not knowing what to expect, and final tabled. Dead chuffed even tho i wasnt paid, the experience was one i wont forget. So from that game once a week went on to cash in it a few times, then when the lads werent getting the numbers they suggested i go into the Jackpot for a game seeing as i live in town anyways.

So one rainy Thursday i headed up to the Jackpot and thats when i became a gambling addict. Went from the Jackpot to Lukes, ended up playing more and more in Lukes, which is where i feel like i learned to play. I dont know pot-odds, or percentages, every hand i play i learn something from, and i still see myself as a beginner, which is hardly surprising as i still get some degree of abuse both nasty and jokey when im at the table. I think im not too bad, but still sooo much to learn so if you have played with me, or know me from a casino then feel free to let me know what you think. I dont bite. Only if you want me to.

Fitz 2nd Sep €50 Double Chance

Hadnt played in about 2 weeks, had taken a bit of a break to get the kids back to school, so took a trip to the Fitz for this one. Wouldve normally played the €10 Re-Buy round of each in the Jackpot but after €80 worth of re-buys last time, decided to give it a miss. I havent been a fan of the Fitz, played a few cash games there and did ok, staff really nice, place lovely, just didnt think of it as home. Franny was always telling me to play the tourneys there, me being me i but didnt really listen until he went home so he couldnt say i told you so!! I think there was 30-40+ runners that night, i could be wrong, but after a nice run of cards ended up choppping it three ways for €725 each. I did a crazy thing and bought into the Omaha cash game afterwards for €300, told the boys playing that if it was ok with them it would be a quick stop, and i played two rounds and cashed out for €500. Absolutley never again. I love Omaha but that game is just nuts. Plus im a proper begginer at it. So i went up to the Jackpot played some cash and went home with just €50 extra from there. So roughly a grand for that night.

Fitz 3rd Sep €20 + 2 Re-Buys

After a good night went up again to the Fitz, and used both re-buys in the space of 20 mins. mamaged to hold on long enough until i started hitting again, and eventually after 1 hour of play three-handed, we chopped it for €700 each. Im happy, kids are happy with new clothes and day out.

Jackpot Thurs €20 Freezout

This game i love, mostly because i get to deal which i like, give me bit of experience, and after what happened in th Macau in Cork, i was delighted to be back in the Jackpot, and because i think its a bit of crack, get to chat to some of the nutters that frequent the Jackpot and catch up. So as usual, gone before the break, stayed around and dealt, then played some cash. Had no luck and was home early.

Fitz Fri €55 + 55 Scalps

So i was in the Rotunda from 8 am that morning with my Sister sarah, who had a baby girl Ellie May, 8lbs at 3pm. Left there at 8pm and went to the Fitz for this one. First hand i had was QQ, won that one, plus few other minor pots, and went card dead straight away. Ended up going all in blind with 69 off, called by AQ and ace high won it. It wasnt because i was card dead that i went all in blind, i was wrecked from the hospital plus i found it a tough game. But excuses, excuses.

Fitz Sat €125 Freezeout

Got to the Fitz full of beans that night, had a nice relaxing day with the kids and was looking forward to a nice relaxing game. We were seated on the balcony, and there was, i think, 33 runners. Got to the final table there was myself and Vera, who had been at it the whole night, with roughly an even stack each, and much bigger than the rest. We played down to 3, and Tom was knocked out, leaving myself and Vera. Out of all the regular players that i see in the Fitz, only there are only two i never want heads up, Vera is one, and Collette is the other. Mainly because their both excellent players, and a bit because i think its harder to read women, especially Collette. I think theres only been one time ive been involved in a hand with her that ive won, but those are the times i think ive gained most experience from. So its myself and Vera, and i have a 3:1 chip lead, so we play for roughly twenty minutes more and i have aces, s b, i call and Vera goes all in with 9 10 off, i call and the flop comes a 9, turn is a ten. I win it 5 or so hands later and take €1000, and its back home to bed.

Fitz Sunday 7th €30 Freezeout

I go in to this one because Sinead and Ronan are playing the bigger sat, but ive no interest in it, so jump into the smaller one. Get nowhere and go home for dinner.

Fitz Sunday 7th €40 + 2 re-buys

Go back to Fitz cos Sinead isnt answering fone, and buy into this game. Not long before a new player comes to table, an older gent named Paul, very nice and friendly, but we soon start playing cat and mouse. Every raise i make he calls, every raise he makes i call, so back after the break my stack is at 10k. After an hour of nice hole cards and shitty flops, i go all in with 3k and Qh 10h, Paul calls me, as well as one other caller. Flop comes 10c 2c 4d, check, check, turn is 7c, Paul goes all in, other player folds, he turns over Qc 4c for the flush, and im home to bed early.